


Searching to find myself (all I find is you)

by Elisexyz



Category: Suits (US TV)
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, Future Fic, Gen, Referenced Mike Ross/Rachel Zane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 08:06:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13899846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elisexyz/pseuds/Elisexyz
Summary: Mike has been gone for three months - and four days, because of course Harvey has been counting - when he shows up on Harvey's couch.





	Searching to find myself (all I find is you)

**Author's Note:**

> A Tumblr prompt, coming in _very_ late. [146: “ Are you okay? ” + Marvey](http://heytheredeann.tumblr.com/post/171633435429/hey-do-you-still-take-prompts-from-that-list-if). Set in a future in which Mike takes off with Rachel but then changes his mind, because I make the rules here. Marvey is not explicitly slash, but Harvey is just as obvious as he is in the show, so.

“ _Jesus Christ_ — Mike!” Harvey yells, his heart pounding annoyingly after skipping _way_ too many beats upon finding his couch occupied. At one am. Without any sort of warning. By his best friend who’s supposed to be on the other side of the country, six hours of flight away from him – it’s something that he’s been trying _not_ to think about, but his brain hasn’t been too cooperative, hence his newly-found habit of working himself to death.

“You came home late,” Mike comments, casually, as if he was his goddamn wife waiting for him to come back from work.

“I was _working_ ,” Harvey replies, taking an extra few seconds to drop his keys and take off his coat so that he can study Mike a bit: he’s slumped on his couch, looking worn out. It’s a familiar sight, and Harvey can’t help frowning a bit. “Shouldn’t you be enjoying your evening after work too— in Los Angeles?” he adds, walking up to the couch. He debates grabbing some Scotch, but his head is already pounding because of the insane amount of legwork his brain had to do, not to mention the shouting match Louis dragged him into right before dinner, and Mike doesn’t look like he needs the hangover either, so he just takes a seat, resting his elbows on his thighs to lean forward.

“I didn’t like it there,” Mike comments, covering his eyes with his right arm. He only bothered to turn on the light in the kitchen, so Harvey isn’t really sure if the gloomy undertone in his words is to entirely blame on the atmosphere or if Mike really sounds like an old man talking about how much he regrets his life choices.

“You’ve been there three months.” And four days. It feels like a hell of a lot longer and he’s tried not to keep count, but there’s an unspoken agreement to call every Friday – and text whenever they feel like it –, so it’s pretty difficult not to pay attention to how long it’s been since their last talk. “It’ll take some getting used to.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think I _want_ to get used to it,” Mike comments, more sharply, but still hidden behind his arm.

Harvey’s frown deepens, because that’s not like Mike: he was awfully determined to follow Rachel, enough that when Harvey instinctively fought him on it, planting himself like a tree with a firm, giant _no_ as soon as he got the news, he fought him on it and insisted that it was his right, his family, his life, and that Harvey was supposed to support him – which Harvey _did_ , in the end, even if he still can’t wrap his head around how exactly he managed to hug him goodbye at the airport instead of kidnapping him on the spot.

He has a good job, he has a licence, he has his wife— Harvey has been coping by keeping himself busy because what does he _have_ besides Mike and work? But Mike has got a lot going on in his life, and it all followed him to LA. So how comes he’s giving up?

There’s something he’s missing, and Harvey doesn’t like to be kept out of the loop.

“And why is that?” he prompts. “I thought you had made up your mind about it.” The way in which Mike had insisted on how important it was for him to go had stung, because what he was really saying is that he didn’t have enough of a reason to stay in New York, and he sounded so horrifyingly _convinced_ of it that— really, it was a lost battle. One that Harvey gave up on fighting, mostly because he couldn’t keep working under the assumption that keeping Mike close by any means necessary would make them both happy when it clearly wasn’t the case.

“I thought so too,” Mike mumbles. Harvey is growing increasingly tired of his vague answers, but mostly he feels worry eating away at his stomach, and it’s a conflicting sensation, because, while he doesn’t enjoy the fact that Mike has problems in itself, for the first time in three months and four days he is _near_ , which means that Harvey can do more than listening to him share anecdotes on his new life over the phone, he can _help_. It’s a familiar dance, one that makes him feel like things are looking up again.

“I can’t help if you won’t talk to me,” Harvey points out, his tone gentle. Mike slowly removes his arm from his face and— those are some really impressive eye bags, that’s for sure. “A couple more of sleepless nights and people will start mistaking you for a panda,” he comments, as Mike sits up and doesn’t seem to be ready to say anything. Mike cracks a smile at that.

“ _You_ are one to talk,” he scoffs. “Have you even been eating? I wasn’t that thin even when I cheated on the LSATs for a living.”

“Maybe I was stressed because my partner walked out on me,” Harvey points out, which in retrospect isn’t a very smart move, both because it’s way closer to the truth than he’s comfortable with and because he doesn’t like the flash of guilt on Mike’s face.

“Yeah, well, I’m back and in need of a couch to spend the night on, if it helps,” Mike replies, briefly eyeing the suitcase he left next to the couch, which Harvey had been too distracted to notice, apparently.

Harvey nods, trying to ignore the way in which his stomach starts twisting in hopeful expectation. “How long are you staying?”

Mike shrugs. “As long as you’ll have me.”

“A long while then,” Harvey comments, without bothering to hide his slight grin at the news. Mike is staying, at least for a while, and he’s smiling too, looking a bit more alive than a few minutes ago. It still doesn’t answer any of his questions, but it’s a pretty encouraging start.

“I actually— I guess I, uh, don’t really plan on— going back,” Mike supplies, after a few seconds. He looks up to him hesitantly, as if he was expecting a _scolding_ of sorts. Harvey can’t do much of anything besides staring.

“And Rachel?” he finally asks, even if he’s pretty sure he knows the answer to that question already.

Mike shrugs. “A relationship is like a shark,” he says. “It has to constantly move forward or it dies. We kinda had a dead shark the whole time, it’s just that between me being a criminal and then going to prison and everything else— there was so much movement all around that we didn’t really realize that the shark was dead.”

Harvey can’t help scoffing at the inappropriate time to start quoting movies, especially because it sounded weirdly deep and poetic. “Yeah, well, I hope you are holding onto _this_ relationship, because I kinda need the eggs,” he replies, and the smile that spreads on Mike’s face is— blinding. That’s probably the right word for it.

“I gotta say, I missed you catching my references,” he says. Harvey finds himself smiling back.

“Me too.” He pauses, regaining his composure. Because as much as Mike is playing it off with witty quotes, he got married barely half an year ago, he turned his whole life around to follow Rachel and now he’s telling him that they are over. He must be feeling like shit. “How are you holding up?” he asks.

Mike holds his gaze for a few seconds, sobering up as well, then he shrugs and breaks into another slight grin. “Oh, you know, miserable. But you should be thankful that you are miserable, right? That’s very lucky, to be miserable.”

Harvey rolls his eyes. “At least switch up the movie,” he comments. “But seriously,” he adds, leaning a bit more towards Mike and waiting for him to meet his eyes before going on. “Are you okay?”

This time, Mike doesn’t play it off, he just gives a small, bitter smile. “Not really,” he admits. “But I think I’ll be.”

Harvey nods. He’ll make sure of that. He’ll give Mike his job back immediately, of course, unless he wants to take some time to do some soul-searching, and he can help keeping him busy when he comes back from work, he can handle the divorce papers if they decide to go through the process— he’ll help and he’ll be there every step of the way, because Mike is back to being a few steps away from him instead of too many miles, and there’s nothing that can stop him from taking care of him now.

“How do you feel about a movie marathon?” he offers, standing up to drop on the spot right next to Mike. He sits close enough that their arms and knees touch, even if he reasonably could have left a bit more distance between them. To be fair, though, Mike has all the room he needs to move as well, but he doesn’t.

“Don’t you have work tomorrow?” Mike replies, but he’s already shifting into a more comfortable position.

“I’m the managing partner, nobody’s going to fire me if I come in late,” he points out. “But tomorrow you get some sleep,” he adds, because those eye bags really do look frightening.

“And you get a decent meal,” Mike retorts immediately.

“Deal,” Harvey agrees, smiling contently as they share a glance. It’s like breathing with ease for the first time in three months and four days.

**Author's Note:**

> The movie references are from _Annie Hall (1977)_.


End file.
